From Flight to Fall
by Imperial Mint
Summary: Every relationship has a start and an end, a flight and a fall. The birds sang on the final day as snatches of memories reveal a relationship that should never have been. ItaNaru


**Summary:**

Every relationship has a start and an end, a flight and a fall. The birds sang on the final day as snatches of memories reveal a relationship that should never have been. ItaNaru

**Pairings:**

Itachi x Naruto

**Warnings:**

Mentions of sex, alcohol usage, selfish-SasuNaru (onesided I guess on Sasuke's part) and other but I don't want to spoil it for you.

_**From Flight to Fall**_

_*_

"_Naruto…?_"

_His voice was hesitant that night, almost as if he had reached a conclusion, finally. I wondered if it was the conclusion I both longed for and wished would never come, the conclusion that would finally push me to actually think for myself rather than play with other people's emotions._

"_Yes, Sasuke?" _

_My voice was innocent, if a little higher than usual. I could smell the alcohol on my breath this time and knew that Sasuke could, even if he was halfway across the room. I noticed the way his nose crinkled as soon as I walked in the room, the stench of smoke, booze and sex clinging to me._

"_I'm ending this."_

_I could see that Sasuke had debated about this for a very long time, I had been waiting for it for every night since we started the relationship between us, if I'm honest, yet I never had the full guts to end it properly, like I should have done if I wasn't such a coward._

_And though Sasuke didn't need me anymore – he couldn't need someone like me – I saw a flicker in his eye, hoping that I would beg him to keep whatever tangled fragments _were_ still between us and stitch them together, proclaiming undying love._

_Instead, I nodded and turned to stagger from _his _house._

"_I was always bad news anyway, Sasuke."_

_The door shut with a clang behind me and my drunken mind cleared a little, a grim smile settling on my face. I knew where I would end up now and I knew _he _would be surprised to see me; twice in one night certainly was a strange occurrence._

_Good thing the whole ordeal between us was strange._

_*_

Naruto's pupils dilated upon contact and he chuckled deeply, Adam's apple shuddering in mirth. It had never been this good, really, to be alive and he wondered curiously why it was only with this man that he could ever reach the highest peaks.

The curve of his back dipped as a hand trembled against the fine, circular bones just visible underneath the skin and Goosebumps shivered their way from the centre of Naruto's back until they overtook his whole body, overthrowing the sense of pleasure into an indescribable, godly, feeling.

Butterfly kisses trailed up from his collarbone until they hit the edge of his jaw, a hand smoothing his cheeks before the butterfly kisses evolved into a lip crushing kiss, teetering on the edge of complete bliss. Unaware to the pair as they continued, a name escaped Naruto's lips;

"Itachi…"

The whispered moan brought attention to the elder and he stopped, dark eyes capturing blue. A smile was shared, a small smile that spoke more than simple words, and their lips connected, an air-stealing kiss taking place of smiles.

Naruto's hands wrapped round broad shoulders as he sighed lightly, inhaling the scent he had grown to love more than any other. The unique smell permeated his thoughts, even from before, and his mind drew a blank every time the wind showed his lover to be nearby.

*

_I had never considered Itachi as a lover before then, not really. But I suppose I should really explain how everything came to be before the night Sasuke ended everything with me._

_The first time I met Uchiha Itachi outside of his Akatsuki ties was completely by chance. Jiraiya had died by then, taken down by Pein, and the war had continued, every member of the Akatsuki falling with the exception of one slippery Uchiha Itachi. No matter how hard anyone tried, not even Sasuke could find him._

_It was obvious he had defected from the group at some point, but the pressing issue was that Sasuke would never return home unless Itachi had been seen to first. It seemed logical, of course, to take down that threat first and then we'd be able to get a clear shot at Sasuke…_

_That was until I met Itachi. He was sitting by a lake and I didn't even recognise him for who he was. I took a seat close to him, not wanting to scare the stranger before asking him if he'd seen any Missing Nin as of late. The normal answer was no, but a chuckle had escaped his lips when I posed the question, and I realised why when I stared into his eyes._

_They were different to how they had been before; before they had been dull and guarded and yet now they were dead, almost as if someone had plucked them from his skull and replaced them with blackened stone._

_I asked him why he hadn't been found and the answer was so simple, so ridiculously simple, that it made me regard Itachi in a new light;_

"_Because I don't _want_ to be found Naruto-kun."_

_Wasn't that always the reason why people hid? It made sense; not even a feared Nin like Itachi could give up on his life so easily, no matter what misconceptions about the man people seemed to have._

_I don't know how much time I spent there, staring at the side of his face as he gazed at the fish, the soles of his shoes skimming the water, but I do know that it was dark when I realised we had – somehow – gotten closer in the hours together. _

_There had been one question between us before Itachi kissed me, and it, too, was a simple question;_

"_Why did you stay?"_

_And my answer?_

"_Because I don't want to be found either."_

_*_

Fingertips trailed pathways along Itachi's body as Naruto lay next to him, head resting on the Uchiha's pale chest and shoulder turned halfway onto his body. Neither vein nor artery escaped the finger-trails Naruto was tracing, paving the blood vessels that kept Itachi alive.

Naruto's hand traced down the length of Itachi's arm, stopping to draw across his palm. In a second, his hand was encased as Itachi pressed his lips against Naruto's forehead, a sweet, tender kiss imprinted forever upon his skin.

"Do you ever think about what would happen if anyone realised?"

Itachi tilted his head away from Naruto, looking down into his eyes.

"Realised what?"

Naruto shifted in his hold, pulling his hand from Itachi's and wrapping his arms tightly around his lover's naked chest, burying his head into Itachi's body.

"Us, this, you, me. A thousand things they wouldn't approve of-"

Naruto was silenced, as usual, by a tender smile, accompanied with a kiss on the tip of his nose.

"You worry too much, Naruto. If they find out… they find out."

Naruto let out a sigh, as if knowing this had been the answer, and pressed his weight to the side slightly, moving in to capture Itachi's lips in his own, catching the bottom lip in his teeth as he straddled the elder.

"I'm afraid, Itachi…"

Before he dipped back in to return the kiss, hands skimming over Naruto's ribs and resting on his hip, dipping slightly as they crawled underneath the elastic lining the top of Naruto's boxers, Itachi admitted,

"So am I."

*

_It was only natural, to us, that we saw each other more. Many people describe kisses with someone they love to be infectious, a drug, and I could describe Itachi's as just that. It had been an unprecedented kiss and, afterwards, Itachi's leg had fallen into the water where he had shuffled forwards unevenly. I'll remember that part for the rest of my life, the laughter around us and the fireflies flitting over the fields._

_Our relationship broke that day, well the relationship we had been before. He was no longer what I considered the enemy and I was no longer an achievable target. He didn't want the Kyuubi, he didn't want anything. _

_On our fourth meeting, Itachi took me to a similar lake to watch the sunset and, consequently, the sun rise. It was at this lake that I lost my virginity – I had taken on other acts but never fully there, training with Jiraiya had been strenuous whatever anyone else might have thought and taking down the Akatsuki required full attention so I hadn't had the time for any other relationship – and the day that I believe I began to love Itachi for who he really was._

_The morning after brought a new perspective to my life, especially as I watched the rising sun glint off the nape of his shoulder, his hair flowing untied across his left shoulder. There was a series of crisscrossed scars across his shoulder blades yet I did not question him upon them; I may have slept with the man but that didn't give me the right to his secrets._

_I stirred and sat up, alerting Itachi to the fact that I was awake. He glanced in my direction, eyes the same dark colour as they had always been when around me now, and smiled gently. _

"_Thank you."_

_The birds around us suddenly burst into a symphony and I mirrored his smile; I may not know Itachi that well but I did know that we both wanted this._

_*_

The piece of beef Naruto had been holding out rolled from his chopstick and he looked up, laughter evident in his eyes.

"Excuse me?"

Itachi rolled his eyes, plucking the meat from the floor and dusting it, opening Naruto's mouth with two fingers and slipping it into the original destination. Naruto closed his jaw gently, allowing time for Itachi to move his fingers away and waited for an answer.

"It's only a suggestion."

Naruto's eyes narrowed and he stabbed at another piece of beef, catching it between the two chopsticks and pointing it at Itachi's nose.

"Well there's the problem then. I don't want to."

Itachi's eyebrow rose and it was easy to see that he wasn't happy with the decision. His hands reached for Naruto's chopsticks, catching the meat in his teeth and taking away the eating utensils.

"Just once."

Naruto rolled his eyes and stood, heading for the bedroom. Itachi set the food aside, a grin on his face as he knew, without a doubt, that Naruto had caved in. It didn't take a genius to know that Naruto was curious and this would indeed satisfy some inch of curiosity. Itachi, on the other hand, simply wanted to see a bit more leg.

"There, happy now?"

Itachi's eyes roamed over Naruto's body as he stood, an orange maid's outfit fitting to his muscles and his arms folded over his chest. Itachi shifted over on his seat and a corner of his mouth lifted, beckoning Naruto to the seat.

As Naruto paced over, hips swaying in an abusing manner (at least to Itachi), he sat firmly on the Uchiha's lap, wrapping his legs around the elder and whispering against the shell of his ear,

"Happy birthday, Itachi."

*

_It would be a long while after our first that I saw Itachi, but when I did see him it was a moment I won't easily forget. _

_We were in a town and I had finished a mission. I was probably in the worst state I had ever been in; Itachi told me afterwards that I was crying and I looked as if I hadn't slept in weeks. He was probably right._

_Before I saw him, I was given a mission. Details had been left out, most likely on purpose by the people who requested a mission – Konoha would never have given the mission to _me _of all people if they had known. _

_When I arrived at the place I was supposed to be ending the lives of three drug lords, no one had told me that they had families. They weren't the most evil of drug lords, simply dealing to a few people here and there but they could have resolved that. _

_I killed a father right in front of his child's eyes. He was a little boy, no older than eight or nine, and I killed his role model. _

_I wanted to kill myself, and was trying to when Itachi found me. The little boy's eyes were swilling in my head when I crashed into someone's waiting arms and the next thing I remembered was waking up in Itachi's bed, his sleeping figure on a chair next to me._

_When he woke up, he told me that the most haunting part of our lives was the lives we took, and that we could not ask for retribution for those people – and did not deserve the forgiveness, no matter who they were – but we could find an alternative, pray for something else._

_I didn't get what he meant until a few months later and, by then, I had already been on the bottle, too late to simply ditch the alcohol._

_But I didn't mind. Alcohol helped me to forget those eyes and that was fine by me._

_*_

A black cat stalked across the window sill and Naruto laughed as it meowed at the window, opening it quickly to let the animal in.

"Look! We have a visitor!"

Itachi walked in, a towel around his waist. He nodded to the cat and looked to Naruto.

"You never consider that a simple cat could be a spy."

Naruto wheeled on Itachi, picking the cat up in a protest and dropping it, nodding as the cat landed unscathed on its feet.

"There. Real cat, no Kage Bunshin, happy now? So what if it's a spy anyway, we can take anyone who comes against us."

Itachi raised an eyebrow, walking away.

"Weren't you the one who was so paranoid before?"

Two minutes later, the cat was being carried from the house and off into the nearby woods where, upon dropping it and shooing it away, Naruto sighed in relief, smiling and hoping that Itachi was simply teasing and their time would never end.

*

"_Naruto… I have a question."_

_I was surprised, at first, to see the _other _Uchiha, Sasuke, talking to me. Since his return from Orochimaru I had steered clear of him, afraid of him seeing the boy's eyes reflected in mine and the scent of his brother clinging to me. I felt guilty about having a relationship with Itachi, even though I didn't regret it, something that didn't make sense._

_And, because it didn't make sense, I drank more, seeping under a drunken influence. Because of the Kyuubi, I had a high tolerance for alcohol and so it took more and more to get me into a mood where I could forget. If I woke up at six AM, as I usually did, then it would take me until at least five in the evening until I was marginally drunk, only if I constantly had a drink on me._

_It was useful, really; I could still be on active duty while nursing emotional tears. So, when Sasuke finally cornered me, I looked at him, begging him to ignore the alcohol clinging to me._

"_Can we go out?"_

_I agreed, thinking he meant just for dinner or something, but the goodnight kiss he gave me spoke more. So it was without regret that I allowed him to fuck me that night, biting my lip in what he assumed was pleasure but was mainly to stop myself from blurring his face and calling him by his brother's name._

_Guilt welled up every time I saw Sasuke after that, every time we touched or kissed, yet I hadn't even see Itachi for months._

_*_

"It's a cake."

Itachi nodded, sitting down and gesturing for Naruto to do the same.

"It's you birthday."

Sometimes, with Naruto, stating the obvious was the best policy. The man tended to have a mind like a sieve; it may go in but it was sure as likely to fall back out.

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean that it's anything to celebrate. I mean… thousands of people died and I'm only getting a year older… Itachi, is a cake _really _necessary?"

Itachi hummed non-complacently and shrugged. He placed his hands on the table, looking Naruto dead in the eye and waiting for some sort of action. Naruto narrowed his eyes before sticking his tongue out, snatching a cake fork from the table and digging it into the side of the cake.

Instead of travelling to his mouth, however, the cake was flicked across the table and landed right on Itachi's chest. Everything was silent until Naruto broke into giggles, laughter filling the room. Itachi scraped the cake from his clothes and stood, a piece of cake dangling from his own fork. Naruto's eyes widened as Itachi stalked round to his side of the table the cake pointed in front of his nose. Just as Naruto was about to back away, the cake found its way into Itachi's mouth and Naruto smiled; he knew Itachi was beyond revenge.

His smile turned to surprise, though, when Itachi's mouth clamped over his, cake being pushed into his mouth by a skilful tongue. There was no other choice but to swallow the sponge and Naruto coughed, pushing Itachi away with a glare.

Silence fell between them as Itachi stared unwaveringly into Naruto's eyes, and the Uzumaki glared back. Exactly three minutes later, Naruto sighed, flicking his tongue over his teeth with a smile,

"Fine, you win. I like the cake."

Itachi nodded, smiling, and ruffled his lover's hair.

"But it was just because you had it first," Naruto muttered, as if in afterthought. Itachi's face brightened and a devilish smile overtook his features,

"That can be arranged for the whole cake, if you so wish."

The morning after, on the 11th of October, Naruto spent the first hour of his morning scraping cake crumbs from the bed, smiling all the while.

*

_It was a horrible, rainy, Sunday afternoon when my world crashed again, realising that I was spiralling into a circle of depression, alcoholism and venting it all out by using Sasuke for sex. Even Tsunade had noticed the signs, telling me in privacy that she was giving me holiday to 'clean myself up'. _

_Every night I would go out, drinking, and return to the house I now shared with Sasuke to let him hold me, pleasure me and be pleasured by me and, every night without fail, my skin would crawl with the notion that it was wrong. I knew it was wrong – Sasuke deserved someone who would love him, someone who would be willing to share everything – and knew I should have stopped but… like most things in my life, I didn't._

_And so, that Sunday evening, I had a mere whim to take out of Konoha, nodding to the guards and transporting myself to a nearby town, well known for their bars. It didn't take long for me to get kicked out of one and I began the bar crawl I so famously took part in._

_I was staggering by the time I met with Itachi. Like pretty much all of our meetings, it had been a surprise for me but not exactly a surprise for him. He looked at me with his mouth down turned and frowned. _

_I knew then that he hated me. Hated me for being this weak and hated me for the fact that I, the one person who had always bragged that he never would do it, had given up._

_On Monday morning, I entered Sasuke's house (because it couldn't really belong to me as I didn't belong to Sasuke), the stench of alcohol concealed behind the stench of sweat and sex, and the promise to meet Itachi the following night._

_*_

Sometimes Itachi dreamed of unspeakable things, and sometimes he dreamt of wonderful things. The night he woke up, next to Naruto for once, in a sweat, it had been an unspeakable dream. Naruto hadn't reacted to the jolt of his body as he shot upwards, but he had woken when Itachi opened the window.

He knew by the lines around the corners of Itachi's eyes and by the grimace on his mouth that the dream had been a bad one, and settled himself on the bed, looking at Itachi but never disturbing his thoughts. Naruto knew, by now, not to disturb Itachi when he wasn't fully there; ever since Itachi had admitted the truth about the night he killed the Uchiha clan.

Itachi's eyes retained their life and he breathed in sharply, focusing on the alert figure in bed.

"Sorry," he whispered with a forced smile, stepping away from the window and rejoining Naruto under the covers. "Did I wake you?"

Naruto allowed himself to be drawn into Itachi's arms, holding the Uchiha as tightly as he could.

"No, it wasn't you. What did you see?"

Itachi was silent, and when he answered Naruto wasn't sure if he'd wanted to hear it.

"They came to us."

When Itachi dreamt of unspeakable things, they weren't unspeakable just in one meaning; they often came true.

*

_Almost twelve months since I had started seeing Itachi behind Sasuke's back was the time he finally ended it, shocking me more than anything. I was glad to be free, glad that I had set Sasuke free, and glad I could finally be with Itachi._

_Or so I thought._

_He told me he had been under orders to kill Uchiha but he refused to testify, telling me that it was useless for me to try and persuade him to return to Konoha when our happiness could so easily be achieved where we were already._

_Like the fool I was, I believed him. _

_Two months after that, I finally gave up drinking and Tsunade was happy to place me on the active Nin register permanently. Another month following that, I would request to be taken off, spending my days with Itachi instead like it was the only thing that mattered in the world._

_And, to me, it was._

_*_

Naruto could feel the electricity in the air and his body shuddered when the knock on the door came. Itachi looked up from his book, eyes full of regret, and walked to the door, barefooted.

The Shinobi that entered the house gave no time for Itachi to retaliate – not that he would have – and consumed the Uchiha, placing chakra binds and seals on him. Naruto watched from the sofa, unmoving and unwavering as he watched the team secure Uchiha Itachi.

He knew all of them; silent as Sakura and Neji pushed the silent Itachi to the ground and blinking when Kiba and Ino tightened the wire containing the dark haired man further. He ignored Shikamaru as he spoke and turned away from Sasuke as he looked into the building, shock radiating from his body as he noticed Naruto.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto was silent and he caught Itachi's eye, his own softening as he saw the love literally beaming from the dark iris.

"I guess we've finished hiding then," Naruto said softly, moving over to his friends with his hands out before his body, "Go on then. I won't resist."

Would the Godaime be satisfied that she had managed to capture the most feared Missing Nin if it came at a price of her chosen successor?

*

_I watched them carefully, assessing how they behaved around us and smiling with Itachi's hand in mine. They had strangely allowed us to be together and I guess I had Tsunade to thank for that._

_We had always know, deep within us, that it could never last… but, like all young people, we had never expected to be caught. There is a difference between knowing it will never last and it actually ending. _

_They took Itachi first, and neither of us said anything. It was only three seconds after he disappeared that I realised I would never hold him again, never be held by him, and my chest broke. I was broken from the tears when a soft voice, one I had almost forgotten, spoke to me, the jangling of a gate as it opened accompanying him._

"_Get out, Naruto, we don't have much time."_

_Time had been good to Iruka and I smiled to him through my pain. I saw him look over his shoulder, nodding to the man at the gate and my heart beat faster as I recognised the hair; Kakashi._

_They took me to a hill, overlooking the private execution of Uchiha Itachi, like good mentors and teachers would. Iruka told us that he couldn't stand to see me in this state and maybe… maybe this would bring the old Naruto back. He didn't know that the old one had died when I saw that child, that boy, and didn't know that I considered every day of my happiness to be cherished._

_The birds sang when we drew our last breath, just like we had planned. No one had noticed the kunai in my sleeve and I was grateful for that – I didn't have to waste time biting my tongue off._

_Our story was a pointless one, the love between enemies who couldn't do anything to stop their emotions but, as I lay on the ground with Iruka shouting for Tsunade, I imagined Itachi's voice, his careful whisper informing me that our life meant something, that our love meant something and maybe… just maybe…_

*

**Notes:**

So I admit this is a bit random but I just felt like a change of pace. :D Thank you for reading and please visit my profile for information on an upcoming Itachi x Naruto contest. Thank you!


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